Former Surgeon General Scott Rivkees blasts Florida over new laws

Dr. Scott Rivkees, the former Florida surgeon general who’s now a professor at the Brown University School of Public Health in Rhode Island, has emerged with a damning op-ed against the state’s GOP power structure – including his old boss, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In a column published Sunday by The Hill, Rivkees began by pointing out a new law that soon will “allow medical practitioners in Florida to espouse … dangerous myths and beliefs (and) deny medical care based on personal beliefs….”

He went on to point out, “Yet, if a state-certified teacher used some of the writings of Pulitzer- and Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison … speaking to high-school students about understanding community diversity and the impact on public health, that person could be subject to disciplinary action if a parent of a student objects.”’

Rivkees lambasted physicians who advocated “nonproven interventions including hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin” for COVID-19 and those who took an “anti-vaccine stance” – which could describe the current surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo. Rivkees also took a shot at “educational censorship and books being banned in school and public libraries.”

A request for comment was pending as of late Monday with the governor’s office and a spokesperson for Ladapo. Rivkees left office in mid-2021, over a year after he was walked out of a news briefing in the Florida Capitol by one of the governor’s aides. His faux pas? He said people would have to continue wearing masks and social distancing until a COVID-19 vaccine could be approved.